March 24, 2014
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame rowing team made program history on Monday, debuting as the eighth-ranked team in the 2014 preseason Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA)/USRowing Division I Coaches Poll.
The ranking was the highest ever achieved by the Irish in the national preseason poll, and surpassed the team’s previous high watermark of 11th to begin the 2007 season.
Notre Dame opened the 2014 slate with six race victories on March 15-16 at the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The Irish varsity eight (6:29.644) highlighted the opening day by racing No. 3 Virginia (6:28.800) to within eight thousandths of a second in a runner-up showing in just its second race of the season at the regatta.
A total of five Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) teams comprised the preseason poll, as Notre Dame and Virginia were also joined by No. 18 Clemson, No. 19 Syracuse and No. 20 Duke in the national top 20. Future ACC member Louisville checked in at No. 16.
Ohio State secured 13 first-place votes to top the poll, with California (second place, two first-place votes) and Virginia (third place, 10 first-place votes) also receiving first-place votes.
No. 8 Notre Dame resumes its spring schedule on April 12-13 at the Lake Natoma Invitational in Folsom, Calif.
2014 CRCA/USRowing Preseason Coaches Poll
- Ohio State (13 first-place votes), 460
- California (two first-place votes), 459
- Virginia (10 first-place votes), 452
- Washington, 371
- Princeton, 360
- Southern California, 358
- Yale, 347
- Notre Dame, 324
- Brown, 272
- UCLA, 271
- Harvard, 257
- Michigan, 254
- Stanford, 244
- Washington State, 151
- Wisconsin, 127
- Louisville, 110
- Cornell, 108
- Clemson, 103
- Syracuse, 91
- Duke, 28
–ND–